Man, it's been a while, hasn't it? Anyway, sorry for the late update, and I also gotta say that I'm so sorry, but this story will only be until the end of sixth year. Sorry! It's just that I want to make this sweeter and more concise, but at the same time, I do have a life. Thanks for sticking with me so far!
Also, I'm re-editing the story and will be re-uploading Chapter One. There will be changes, not absolutely huge ones, but more scenes and more stuff.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Farrah, Tension, and Breakups
Reviews: halopez18: Thank you! NumberOneNarcissist: Well thank you very much! Yeah, I plan to go back and edit and clarify stuff, because I know it's really confusing *winces* but yeah, I'm planning to pick up the romance pace a bit. HGromanticsap: MAN. I feel like I should give you a PRIZE or something XD. Queer king stephen: Yeah, I feel bad for Annabel too...mostly because of what I've got planned for her... Sophia Alice Rosalie Potter: Well that's great! Congrats! Ashely: Oh wow, I feel guilty for not updating for three months. Thank you, though! snarlingwolf: dawwww, thank you! marauderlove: Thank you! Ripredisawesome98: awww, thank you! And yeah, poor Annabel, she just gets the worst things ever, huh? AmandaMau: Nope! :) EmilyLupin77: Aaaahh, yes, I should probably start recapping past chapters...I DID NOT UPDATE ALL SUMMER. I am a failure. XD. strukkfirst: Yep! Love Avatar, but I disliked the romance in LOK and it sorta ruined part of the show for me-Asami was awesome, thoug, so that totally made up for it! And yeah, I just want Fauna to come back, but... Dark Fire Pixie: Asdkljdfakldsf thank you so much! Your review just totally made my day :3 WentToManderleyAgain: BAHAHAHA ahm ehem. maaaannnnn i totally ship david/fauna now.
Recap: Farrah's a creepy girl who smells like a wolf (not a werewolf), there's a blue wolf on the prowl turning people blue, Daphne Winter is Alice's friend who died, Alice is ignoring Annabel because she thinks Annabel killed Daphne, Marna and Fauna are still unconscious and blue, Blake is Lily's boyfriend who is an UTTER creep and Annabel doesn't like him, Professor Feibe is Crystal in disguise.
Quote: The Venn Diagram of boys who don't like smart girls and boys you don't want to date is a circle. ~ John Green
"Alice?"
It was whispered by Annabel, who stared pleadingly at Alice, whose back stiffened. The curtains were drawn and Annabel was left staring at red velvet. Just when she needed Alice's advice.
It then occurred to her that maybe there was someone else who could give equally good, if not better, advice.
Remus was strained. It was a mere few days until the full moon, and he was tired all the time, so he was caught off guard when Annabel came barrelling over to him in the Common Room. Sirius was also caught off guard and when Annabel suddenly said, "Hey." Sirius shrieked and upset the chess set, pieces scattered on the floor.
"Hey Annabel. What's―" started Remus.
"I need your help," said Annabel, effectively interrupting him. "Come on."
And with that, she and Remus were gone.
"Oh, hello Annabel," grumbled Sirius. "It's so good to see you. Oh, you want to help clean up the chess set? Nah, I got it covered. Oh, you insist? Well, in that case, be my guest. Rotten lovey-dovey kids. Always think about themselves."
Annabel pulled Remus along until they were out of the Common Room and going down a hallway before she slowed to a walk. Remus was utterly confused, but stayed quiet for about ten minutes, focusing on not passing out from exhaustion.
After the ten minutes ran out, he said tentatively, "You said you needed my help?"
"Oh yes," she said absently, scratching her head. Her makeup was slightly messed up, he noticed, like she had been crying. "Er. Well―"
"Are you all right?"
She looked flustered. "I'm fine," she said a bit sharply now, smoothing down her clothing. "I just need a bit of advice."
Remus frowned. "Don't you have Alice for that?" he asked. Last he heard, Alice was some kind of master of advice.
"No, she's not talking to me." There was a bitter, resigned note in her voice. "So there's this thing … that's been happening to me …"
Remus gave her a confused glance.
"I'm ― I thought it stopped, but it didn't … I've got this problem where I'm getting this woman's memories and it's just like … I don't know, horrible."
"What memories?"
"Of this woman, who's just psycho, she's just insane and crazy and ― I just can't deal with this, Remus! I don't know what the hell's happening, and with Fauna and David and Alice and it's just so frustrating."
"Whoa," said Remus. "What's with Fauna and David?"
"David's in love with her," said Annabel a bit sadly.
"But isn't he dating you?"
"He's in love with her. I'm going to break up with him." Annabel shrugged.
Remus reached out and hugged her. She stiffened, as if expecting something else, and then hugged him back. "Thanks," she whispered. "I think ― I needed that."
"You know what you need to do, don't you?"
"No?"
"You need to go to Professor Dumbledore."
Annabel sat on the chair a bit uneasily in Dumbledore's wide, oval-shaped room, Fawkes crooning in his perch. Every time she looked over at the admittedly magnificent-plumaged bird, it tilted its head at her and stared.
She fidgeted as Dumbledore looked at her gravely over his half-moon glasses, blue eyes stern. "I presume that you had a reason for coming to me?"
"Oh! Oh yes."
She explained. She explained everything that had been happening, and Dumbledore was quiet as she talked, and it was horribly awkward and awful and when she finished, she closed her eyes in mortification.
They were quiet for the better part of a minute, and then Dumbledore said: "I believe that you've noticed something strange about Professor Feibe."
She glanced up, and he wasn't looking at her, he was looking down at his desk calmly.
"I ― yes, but ―"
"Yes?"
"She's a teacher," burst out Annabel, "and I thought that you, y'know, would've interrogated them, but …"
"I will deal with this," said Dumbledore kindly. "Meanwhile, you must go to Madam Pomfrey and ask her if you could have the extract of wolfsbane and ebonia mixed together."
"Of course," said Annabel hopelessly, seeing that even though Dumbledore knew something that she didn't, he wouldn't tell her. "Thank you, Professor." For nothing.
"It was no help!" Annabel told Remus the next morning, stabbing at her food. The small, glistening bottle of wolfsbane and ebonia was near her plate, and she was stubbornly refusing to take it. "No help ― at all ―"
"I'm sure Dumbledore has a reason for what he's doing …"
"Well, I'm damned well sick of all these fucking things and ―" Annabel frowned. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
There it was again, Annabel noticed―this hollow scream in the distance. Other people were noticing it too, turning around and looking for the source. "Someone screamed!" she exclaimed, hastily hoisting up the hem of her robes and running.
And when she saw who it was, she screamed.
Lily had just been minding her own business when she head Annabel screaming, and then she began to run to the noise, pushing aside startled students and bumping into James. "What—" said James.
"It's Annabel!" cried Lily, panicking.
James's hand whipped out and grabbed hers around the wrist. "C'mon!" he said, and began to run. People leapt out of the way and suddenly Sirius was there, looking very pale indeed, and Annabel was sobbing wretchedly, like her heart was being ripped into a million pieces.
"What—" said Lily.
Noelle would have appeared to be sleeping on the floor, was it not for the fact that she was blue.
"I don't understand," said Annabel, sitting in the Hospital Wing with her head buried in her hands. Remus patted her sympathetically on the shoulder. On one side was Marna and on the other was Noelle.
Annabel covered her face. "I don't understand."
"Neither do I," said Remus.
Sirius was leaning against the wall, appearing almost dead to the world, eyes wide open. "Hey Moony," he said, "c'mere for a sec, will you?"
While they were talking, Annabel gathered her stuff, refusing to look at Marna or Noelle, and made her escape. She bumped into David on her way out—he must've been on his way to see Fauna.
"Oh," he said.
"Oh," she replied.
Things grew very strained just then and then Annabel sighed. "Look—David," she said apologetically, "I'm sorry."
"I am too."
She reached out and he met her halfway, burying his face in the crook of her neck as her arms wrapped tightly around him and she knew that she would always care for him in her own strange little way. "I'm breaking up with you," she whispered in his ear.
"I know," he said.
"Because you love Fauna."
"I'm sorry."
She unwrapped herself from him and kissed him on the cheek. "She'll get better," Annabel promised, feeling tears sting her eyes. "Promise."
He held her hand for a moment longer. "I'll see you around, Anna," he said with just a trace of a grin, and she laughed in a watery sort of way before turning around and setting off down the corridor with her heart a bit lighter.
Alice was still ignoring Annabel, but Annabel was just slightly glad to see that Alice was still concerned over Noelle. She was pondering that when she bumped into someone, mumbled an apology and sidestepped to the left, but the person sidestepped with her.
"Er," said Annabel, looking up, and her heart froze.
It was Blake, Blake, Lily's boyfriend (of sorts) that she hadn't seen in ages, and he was looking terrible if Annabel dared say so, with his hair greasy and dark, bags under his eyes and looking a year older. "Annabel," he said, and his voice was still that smooth, cheerful voice. "Have you seen Lily?"
She jabbed a finger at his chest. "Stay away from her," she said.
"She's my girlfriend."
"She's my friend."
"I should think that she'd been in need of a bit of comfort," said Blake. "Seeing as Noelle's dead and all."
A moment later he was on the floor in a perfectly casted Petrificus Totalus and Annabel stepped over him, accidentally (on purpose) kicking him in the face. "I shall have to ask Filch to clean up the corridors," she said coldly. "There appears to be some filth on the ground."
"I smelled wolf," said Sirius to Remus, and Remus was lost. The full moon was at least a week ago—surely the werewolf scent wouldn't be as strong. "No, Moony, not werewolf. Wolf."
"Like…"
"Like that girl. The really gorgeous one that we met a while ago. What was her name again?" Sirius snapped his fingers as he tried to recall the gorgeous girl's name. "Farrah!"
Remus held his head. "I'm confused."
"So'm I, Remmy," said Sirius, glancing over to where Noelle was staring at the sky. "It's like she's been Petrified, isn't it? But the mandrake elixir isn't working, innit?"
"I don't think it will," said Remus, staring at where Marna was and thinking what he could say to her if she woke up. "Anyway, aren't you, you know, just a little bit torn up about Noelle?"
"No," scoffed Sirius. "Why would I be?"
Remus stared at him and raised an eyebrow, and Sirius turned away.
At the same time that Sirius and Remus were talking about her, Farrah was gliding down the corridors. Even though her looks were far greater than the average human being, nobody seemed to notice her, and she preferred it that way.
She knocked on Professor Feibe's door.
"Come in!" said Professor Feibe.
"Afternoon, Crystal," said Farrah smoothly. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
Feibe—or Crystal, really—stood up nervously as Farrah came closer. "Stay back," she said warningly.
Farrah raised an eyebrow. "Now now, Crystal," she said. "You know you're still only here because of me."
"Yes, and you've already started to ruin the plan," said Crystal tartly. "You're not supposed to go willy-nilly sucking people's life lines. I insist that you restore at least some of them."
Farrah pouted. "Oh, Crystal," she said, opening her eyes wide. "Don't be such a spoilsport. I've been supporting your life force and you won't even let me have a bit of fun?"
"The Dark Lord—"
"Yadda yadda yadda." Farrah scowled. "The Dark Lord is but a child to the likes of me."
Crystal slammed her hands down on the table, looking quite deranged with anger. "Don't you dare talk about him that way!" she said, sounding upset. "And—and if you're so goddamn powerful, then you go take over the world!"
"Oh no no no," said Farrah teasingly. "I'm much too smart for that."
Crystal harrumphed and turned away. "Well you're not doing too much good," she said pathetically. "You killed Daphne Winter and now the parents are freaking out. You must at least try to release someone. How about that Noelle girl, and maybe that Marna girl?"
Farrah sighed regretfully. "Ah, well, I suppose so. That Fauna girl's got enough spirit to keep me lasting for a year." She stretched luxuriously. "At least let me keep that Noelle girl for another week?"
"Fine," relented Crystal.
Annabel was just about to sit down at the table when someone grabbed her around the waist and swung her around. "Marna's alive!" shouted Remus, delighted, happy, but Annabel was too dizzy from his touch, reveling too much in it.
"What?" she sputtered. "Marna's okay?"
"The blue's fading away and she sat up and we were talking!" Remus hugged her tightly and she hugged him back, utterly delighted and at the same time, utterly confused, because Fauna hadn't woken up.
But Noelle might.
"Oh, Remus," said Annabel, resisting the urge to kiss his cheek—or kiss him, really. "That's amazing. How is she?"
"Weak," admitted Remus, and perhaps he became a bit conscious of how his hands were resting on her waist, because he quickly pulled them back and turned red. She coughed and looked up at the ceiling, and then at the ground, hoping that it would swallow her up.
Something cold and slick was pressed into her hand and she looked down to see that it was the extract of wolfsbane and ebonia that she had left on the table. "I picked it up," he explained, and she stared at it like she'd never seen it before. "I figured—I figured you'd might want to drink it."
"Thanks," said Annabel after a moment, before pulling out the stopper and downing the small bottle in a gulp. It was bitter and she made a face, but as the aftertaste faded there was an almost-sweet lingering flavor. "Look—Remus—"
He waited expectantly, but the words were tangled up in her mouth, cutting her tongue sharply. He waited for almost a full minute before saying gently, "Do you want to talk about this later?"
She nodded, choking on her tongue.
"All right." And then, almost hesitantly, he kissed her on the cheek before walking away.
Fuck.
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